Instagram Catch Up

Its been so busy the last couple of weeks with school and events and parents evening and then my cake decorating class one evening and the craft destash restash night and going away for a few days that I thought i'd share a look through instagram
relaxing with some mini crochet granny squares

 Mums 65th birthday flowers were gorgeous

 one of my favourites

 Some time in a garden centre and I got lost in the maze!

2p slot machines - such fun

 one of my favourite moves - BIG - so I had to take this photo when I saw it

 viewing the windy breeze at Skegness beach

spending some time with my niece who is growing up way too fast

 meeting mums new rehomed kitties for the first time - Susie

and Jax (who I kind of fell for big time)

 

 A good break and now Im back to normality

Autumn Colours

Autumn is certainly in the courtyard where my little shop and studio are

I got these gorgeous autumn coloured threads from the destash/restash towards a long term granny crochet project i'm working on

Craft magazines are full of autumn colours

Whats reminding you of Autumn x

Cake Decorating - A Nightmare before Christmas

After my first attempt at a cake decoration class I couldnt wait for the next one to start

I knew it was a themed one based on The Nightmare before Christmas

Heres my attempt at the decorating
Sally

Jack o lantern

oogie boogie

the hill in the moon

jack skellingtons - im super not happy with these i just couldnt not get the royal icing to work lol practise practise practise me thinks

and yes you guessed it, im booked in for the christmas class already - yep im addicted

The Gift Box

I've some lovely new stock in the shop of late so I thought I'd share some on here for you

There is such a fantastic range of artisans in my shop I'm so happy to know so many talented people
Photos in order are Jigsaw Wooden Products, Glittering Prize, oh sweet bag of mine, Drift Buy, Samantha Bartlett, Glittering Prize, ilioa samantha bartlett and daisysyard

Artisans - Glittering Prize

Trudi is the name behind Glittering Prize and another artisan I can say is a lovely friend of mine, she's hilarious and lights up the room with her prescence and giggles

I couldnt wait to feature Trudi on my blog as she deserves the limelight for her amazing glass creations

Heres Trudi in her own words...

I work with glass, it’s such an interesting material and the possibilities are endless …. There is always something new to learn and try out which makes it so interesting.

All the lampwork beads and fused glass art are handmade made by me in my purpose built studio – Lamp Lodge. As part of their charm & characteristics, my work may have slight variations! Wouldn't it be boring if everything was all the same!!

When I started off lampworking most of it was self taught with help from books by Cindy Jenkins & Corina Tettinger, valuable advice from Frit Happens. Then I decided that I would like more direction and over the years I’ve had lessons with Red Hot Sal (Sally Carver), Sarah Hornik, Di East, Becky Fairclough & Michou Anderson.

As I have a kiln I decide to make good use of this, and with the help of friends, books and the internet I also produce some fused glass art, an area I am growing into.

You never quite know where life will take you, and over the years I’ve met some great people and friends and joined some great organisations. I’ve also had the pleasure to be included in designing pieces for a gemstone jewellery book “Beading Design” by Kim Gover and I’ve written articles and turotials for UK and International magazines including Beads & Beyond, Bead and Soda Lime Times!

I am a proud member of both SRA (D62) (an independent organisation that verifies that I make my own beads www.self-representing-artist.com/), GBUK www.gbuk.org/pages/, British Lampworkers www.britishlampwork.co.uk and I’m, a member of the Etsy team British Crafters!

Glittering Prize - where did it come from?? I'm a child of the 80's, and am a Simple Minds fan - and the name comes from one of their tracks, which I thought was quite fitting! 

There are a number of us that are a little Strictly Come Dancing mad so a few years ago we had a party on finals night (we really must do that again)
I adore this photo of Trudi and I - Keeeeep Dancing

You can follow Trudis work on
Facebook
Blog
and thankfully she has quite a few items in my shop and on the website

Huge thanks to Trudi for taking the time to share her story with me

Market Day

Yesterday was our market day, we made an announcement earlier in the week to explain that at the end of this year there will be no more monthly markets run by ourselves, Michelle wrote a blog post explaining why

It comes with great sadness that we are announcing our little market is coming to an end.
After over 3 years, we have had so much fun creating a crafty community, but we have so many other commitments now, that we can't dedicate as much time to it as it deserves.
In the beginning, we were both just dipping our toes into the handmade world, and the market was a perfect way to promote ourselves and others.
Now we both have successful shops on Notonthehighstreet.com, and Deanne has opened a bricks and mortar shop in Warkton - The Gift Box.
Add to that a house move for both of us - both renovating and decorating, and Deanne of course has her 2 boys to look after (3 if you count Tel!;)
We have made so many crafty friends, and we love the community feel of the market. 
So with a tear in our eyes, we decided we won't be doing any more Warkton markets next year,
we have 3 market days left - 19th October, 16th November, and 14th December.
We would love to see you at one of them to say goodbye and thank you for all of your support!
There is talk of us still doing fairs, but on a more one-off basis and at a different venue, so watch this space!
Lots of love,
Michelle & Deanne xxx 

So on that note, heres some photos from our fabulous October market
Cookie Box 

 Chocajojo

 Ladies raising funds for a trip to Ecuador

 Driftbuy

 Vintage Vibe

 Cupboard Love

 Tidberries

 Bee Designs

 Another month gone by so quickly...